Cohasset marathon meeting airs fire, police contract dispute

Friday

Mar 22, 2013 at 12:01 AMMar 22, 2013 at 10:16 PM

According to sources, the controversy brewing between the public safety departments and the town is this: while neither police nor firefighters seem to be opposed to the idea of police officers receiving EMT training, both sides are adamant that they do not want to do the other’s job. In other words, they are not in favor of a singular “public safety” department wherein there is little or no distinction between firefighters and police officers. Rumors to this end have been circulating in online commentaries, social media sites and blogs over the past few months.

Acting Town Manager Michael Milanoski tried to make it explicitly clear that he was only talking about EMT training, not cross-training police officers and firefighters.

Folks in the audience, which included several firefighters and other town employees, begged to differ that EMT training was the real issue on the table. Koed also challenged Milanoski on this point several times.

“You’re talking about public safety officers — that’s not what I’m talking about,” Milanoski said in response to Koed. “That’s where this big hullabaloo is coming from. I’m not saying we’re gong to have a public safety department; that’s where the fear is. I’m focused on EMTs only.”

Erin Dale

Thursday night the Board of Selectmen heard a fiscal year 2014 budget presentation from Acting Town Manager Michael Milanoski that included the public safety departments, police and fire, and discussion on the union contracts for each.

While the fire contract is still being negotiated with the local firefighters’ union, the police contract has been ratified. However, an item in the contract on stipends for specialty training was flagged by selectman Fred Koed as something he claimed not to notice in his initial review of the contract.

The contract states in Article 5 that police officers can be paid stipends for undergoing additional training to become a first responder, EMT or firefighter one. However, Deputy Police Chief William Quigley pointed out that all police officers are already first responders by law.

In the Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) between the town and police union, “Level One” police officer specialists include detectives, court prosecutors and communications specialists, among other specialties. Those who become certified in these areas received stipends of $1850. “Level Two” specialists are an EMT or “Firefighter One,” while “Level Three” specialists are described as “First Responder/AED.” In the contract, neither Level One nor Level Two specialists have stipends attached; the pay for each is listed as “TBA” (To Be Announced). However, Milanoski said that there is $10,000 in the budget to fund the stipends.

According to sources, the controversy brewing between the public safety departments and the town is this: while neither police nor firefighters seem to be opposed to the idea of police officers receiving EMT training, both sides are adamant that they do not want to do the other’s job. In other words, they are not in favor of a singular “public safety” department wherein there is little or no distinction between firefighters and police officers. Rumors to this end have been circulating in online commentaries, social media sites and blogs over the past few months.

Milanoski tried to make it explicitly clear that he was only talking about EMT training, not cross-training police officers or firefighters.

Folks in the audience, which included several firefighters and other town employees, begged to differ that EMT training was the real issue on the table. Koed also challenged Milanoski on this point several times, stating that cross-training appeared to be a reality because the position of "firefight one" exists in the police contract, which has already been signed.

“You’re talking about public safety officers — that’s not what I’m talking about,” Milanoski said in response to Koed. “That’s where this big hullabaloo is coming from. I’m not saying we’re gong to have a public safety department; that’s where the fear is. I’m focused on EMTs only.”

Town Counsel Paul DeRensis stated that "every word in a contract has meaning" and explained that Cohasset's Town Manager Act gives the town manager authority to negotiate contracts without selectmen approval. Cohasset tradition has allowed the selectmen to review and sign contracts, however. In this case the selectmen did sign the police contract.

However, Koed said he was not in favor of approving something that had not been publicly vetted before, with only a few weeks to go before Town Meeting (April 22).

“It could be the greatest idea in the world,” Koed said to Milanoski. “But we’ve got to have public meetings to vet” these issues. “It’s very important to me — this is the policy setting board of the town. You’re supposed to check in with us now and then. The five of us [the selectmen] have input, but this is the first time I’m hearing about it… I might as well be a potted plant.”

An argument broke out between Koed and Milanoski then about when the information was originally presented to the selectmen. Selectmen chair Paul Carlson asked them to speak one at a time. Milanoski tried to stay on message about the EMTs, stating that there are already EMTs in the police department, and that this item was in the draft budget that the selectmen first received in January. Koed argued that the issues concerning the public safety department had not been vetted in public meetings or published in the newspapers or online.

Milanoski said that he did not have to prove when he shared the information. “My integrity is impeccable.” He added again that he was not talking about public safety officers, but only EMT training: “That’s all I’m looking at.”

Carlson asked, seemingly rhetorically, who would have a problem with police officers training to be EMTs. Selectman Leland Jenkins called the notion “a no-brainer,” adding, “This doesn’t have to go out to the public… This is a public safety issue.”

Agnes McCann, Doane Street, said Jenkins was out of order and took issue with his “no-brainer” comment.

Similar arguments arose again during a later discussion Town Hall organization chart, which involves moving several employees around. While Cohasset’s Town Manager Act allows the town manager to reconfigure town departments, some took issue with his proposed changes. However, Koed noted that an acting town manager is not supposed to reorganize the entire town.

Mary Snow of the Dept. of Public Works said that Milanoski was “putting the cart before the horse… Nobody’s agreed to any changes to positions in any union.”

Koed said that if the town employees are unhappy with the proposed changes, the selectmen should listen to them. “Morale is important to this board.”

Jenkins responded, “Employees don’t run this town.”

Koed interjected, “We should listen to what they have to say.”

“We run this town,” Jenkins concluded.

A few awkward moments arose when an employee asked Milanoski about her job, which is losing hours, and the fire department’s overtime and sick leave was shared in a PowerPoint.

The employee, Jennifer Ferrick, is currently on maternity leave and found out that her 35-hour per week position was being reduced to 19 hours with no benefits; this was after already having her hours cut from 40 last year, she said. She said that she has been working for the town for 14 years.

Ferrick’s position is currently being covered by Jennifer Oram, Assistant to the Town Manager, who was Cohasset’s Acting Town Manager for a month in the summer of 2011, before former Town Manager Michael Coughlin took the helm in August that year. In a March 15 email to Milanoski, also sent to the selectmen, Oram indicated that she did not want to remain working in the public safety department. Milanoski is proposing a position called Public Safety Manager that he would like to appoint Oram to starting in July 2013, the start of FY14. The salary is $16,000 lower than total wages Oram currently receives, which she said would be a 20 percent reduction in pay. Oram has been working in the town manger’s office for seven years and said that she is better suited for the Assistant Town Manager/HR position, since she has received HR training.

Oram wrote that if she is to be transferred to the police and fire departments, “it seems only fair that this transition is a lateral one and my pay rate, including my stipends for my additional duties, would remain intact.”

She concluded her letter asking for a formal job description for the public safety manager role, and a written explanation on “why you think the Assistant [Town] Manager position isn’t a natural fit for me.”

Both selectmen Martha Gjesteby and Diane Kennedy said during the meeting that they did not like the title “Assistant Town Manager” and were not in favor of the position. Gjesteby also said that she did not like what was happening to Oram’s job, stating that Oram works hard for the town.

Milanoski said the discussion with Ferrick about her job was not appropriate for a public meeting and should take place in executive session. Firefighters in the audience challenged that showing the firefighter’s overtime burn, with a graphic showing that most sick leave is taken on weekends, was just as inappropriate.

The selectmen adjourned to an executive session to discuss the fire contract around 11 p.m. By midnight they were still in discussion. The Mariner learned that the meeting came back into open session and ended around 2 a.m. The selectmen voted to approve a clerical contract and. the police lieutenant’s contract. It is unclear at this point whether the firefighters' contract has been ratified by either side.

Koed read a prepared statement during the meeting, which you can view online (see link in the sidebar). Milanoski emailed a statement to the Mariner Friday morning, which is also linked to this story.

Look for more on this issue in next week’s print edition of the Mariner.